LETTER TO THE EDITORS DizzyReg: the prospective patient registry of the German Center for Vertigo and Balance Disorders Eva Grill 1,2,3 • Thomas Mu ¨ ller 1 • Sandra Becker-Bense 2,4 • Robert Gu ¨ rkov 2,5 • Florian Heinen 2,6 • Doreen Huppert 2,4,7 • Andreas Zwergal 2,4 • Ralf Strobl 1,2 Received: 7 January 2017 / Accepted: 24 February 2017 Ó Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2017 Dear Sirs, With a high lifetime prevalence and correspondingly large attributable burden of disease [1], vertigo and dizziness are among the more frequent reasons to see a doctor [2]. Vertiginous symptoms arise from a wide range of vestibular or non-vestibular disorders. Although their diagnosis and treatment are straightforward, there are few data on patient-reported outcomes taking into account all available clinical information. This knowledge, however, is urgently needed to investigate new therapeutic options and potential prognostic factors. Based on the limitations on current data, we started a pilot version of a prospective registry for patients with vertigo and dizziness (DizzyReg), presenting at the inter- disciplinary outpatient clinic of the German Center for Vertigo and Balance Disorders (DSGZ) [3] at the Munich University Hospital. The objective of DizzyReg is to examine determinants of functioning and quality of life of patients with vestibular disorders, to extensively phenotype patients as cases for future case control studies, and to elucidate the effects of therapy. In this report, we present rationale, design and first experiences. DizzyReg is a prospective database intended to cen- tralize all information currently stored in electronical health records or medical discharge letters. Data are either read into the system by sending an HTTP request to the clinical workplace system or entered manually. Table 1 gives an overview of the measures and assessments inte- grated into DizzyReg. Patients receive rigorous neuro- otological workup in line with current diagnostic guideli- nes [4–8]. Data are stored on a virtual server with a static IP, fixed domain, and Secure Sockets Layer certificate situated within the hospital firewall. Data collection and management are realized in a browser-based system. Data will be released fully anonymized only for predefined purposes after review by an external steering group. Postal or telephone follow-ups of patients after discharge are intended. A positive vote of the local institutional review board and detailed consulting on data protection issues from the regional data protection officer was obtained before start- ing. Informed consent was obtained from each patient or the patient’s legal surrogate, also for follow-up. Non- This manuscript is part of a supplement sponsored by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research within the funding initiative for integrated research and treatment centers. & Eva Grill eva.grill@med.lmu.de 1 Institute for Medical Information Processing, Biometrics and Epidemiology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universita ¨t Mu ¨nchen, Marchioninistr 17, 81377 Munich, Germany 2 German Center for Vertigo and Balance Disorders, Klinikum der Universita ¨t Mu ¨nchen, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universita ¨t Mu ¨nchen, Munich, Germany 3 Munich Center of Health Sciences, Ludwig-Maximilians- Universita ¨t Mu ¨nchen, Munich, Germany 4 Department of Neurology, Klinikum der Universita ¨t Mu ¨nchen, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universita ¨t Mu ¨nchen, Munich, Germany 5 Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Klinikum der Universita ¨t Mu ¨nchen, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universita ¨t Mu ¨nchen, Munich, Germany 6 Department of Pediatric Neurology, Klinikum der Universita ¨t Mu ¨nchen, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universita ¨t Mu ¨nchen, Munich, Germany 7 Institute for Clinical Neurosciences, Klinikum der Universita ¨t Mu ¨nchen, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universita ¨t Mu ¨nchen, Munich, Germany 123 J Neurol DOI 10.1007/s00415-017-8438-7